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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Leave a
comment on THIS post by 6 p.m. CT Tuesday, September 2, 2014 to be entered in
the DRAWING for a copy of the book below. If you mention in your comment that
you’re a follower (see in the left sidebar “Join This Site” and “Follow by
Email”), I'll add your name a second time in the drawing. U.S. mailing address
required to receive a paper book. Read book giveaway details at Disclaimers.
Please leave your email address. Winner announced in next Thursday's blog
post.

JOY
COMES TO DINSMORE STREET by Linda Wood Rondeau

Award-winning author, Linda Wood Rondeau, writes
stories of God’s mercies. Born in Syracuse, she spent the bulk of her married
life in the Adirondacks. After a long career in human services, Linda now
resides in Jacksonville, Florida with her husband, her best friend in life
where the more tolerable temperatures afford an opportunity to play golf year
round, the author’s second greatest passion.

WHEN REAL LIFE INSPIRES
FICTION

By Linda Wood Rondeau

Writers
are often asked where their ideas come from. For me, many times they germinate
from my social work experience. Sometimes, as was the case of Joy Comes to Dinsmore Street, ideas are
birthed from personal experience.

My
cousin and I spent a lot of time at her house, and she often came and stayed
with me. She had two older brothers and
one younger. I remember the older boys and how mischievous they loved to be.
The younger brother hung out with us girls, taking walks, going to the old
swimming hole to swim. When we had
family events at my grandparents’ house, the cousins played basketball while
the grownups played cards.

I
graduated high school and went on to college. I married and moved hundreds of
miles away. My cousin married as well and had a couple of kids. We both
divorced. I remarried, and she now has a companion who has been by her side for
years, a good fatherly role model for her girls and now her grandchildren. Life and circumstances caused us to drift
apart. And our lives became very different.

Once,
during a rare visit, we went to see my grandparents’ house in Mexico, New York.
Vacant, we walked around the yard and peeked in the windows, remembering the
many times we spent there. We became excited when we saw Grandma Barrigar’s old
wood stove in the kitchen, surprised it was still there. Across the road the old barn still stood.

Whenever
we’re together we reminisce about those wonderful years. As
I thought about how my cousin and I drifted apart, not because of argument,
merely that we journeyed to different places in our lives, a story took root.
What if two cousins, nearly inseparable, had a serious argument that spanned
four decades? How different would these lives become? What circumstances might
bring about their reunion?

And
so, Joy
Comes to Dinsmore Street was born. Many revisions later, the story
takes place Christmas 2000, set at the new millennium in the Adirondack
Mountains. Christmas is a time for reunion, for healing, and forgiveness. No
matter how many decades separate a friendship.

Most people looked forward to the dawning of the new
millennium. For Colin O’Donnell, Christmas 2000 holds no anticipation until he
learns Ma expects a visit from Joy, an adored cousin who disappeared on the
girl’s sixteenth birthday. Why does she decide to visit Ma after all these
years? The day Colin’s father left, Ma clutched Joy’s photograph as if it were
a lifeline. Colin suspects the two disappearances are somehow connected
although they occurred decades apart. Perhaps Joy’s visit will bring answers to
years-old daunting questions. First, however, Colin must wrestle with a current
mystery. What did he do to drive his wife from their bed? When all is revealed and the past and
present collide, will Colin fight to preserve his marriage or follow his father’s
path of abandonment?

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Leave a comment on THIS post by 6 p.m. CT Tuesday, August 26, 2014
to be entered in the DRAWING for a copy of the book below. If you mention in
your comment that you’re a follower (see in the left sidebar “Join This Site”
and “Follow by Email”), I'll add your name a second time in the drawing. U.S.
mailing address required to receive a paper book. Read book giveaway details at Disclaimers. Please leave your email address. Winner announced in next Thursday's blog post.

A PLAIN LOVE SONG
by Kelly Irvin

Kelly Irvin is a
Kansas native and has been writing professionally for 30 years. She and her
husband, Tim, make their home in Texas. They have two children, three cats, and
a thankful of fish. A public relations professional, Kelly is also the author
of two romantic suspense novels and writes short stories in her spare time. To
learn more about Kelly visit website.

From the back
cover

She had to find
her way to him … but first she had to find her way to God.

Adah Knepp wants
nothing more than to make music. It’s all she ever desired—to sing and play the
guitar and write her own songs. That’s a dream that will never come true in the
confines of her strict Amish community. But then she meets Jackson Hart, and
suddenly sees the chance for a different kind of life … a real stage, a real
guitar, and a real opportunity to sing her songs to a real audience!

But pursuing her
dreams means turning her back on her faith, her family, and her community—and saying
goodbye to Matthew, the gentle Amish farmer she can’t get out of her mind. Is
it worth giving up the only home she’s ever known to pursue her dreams?

From Jo

Adah Knepp writes her song lyrics
without music. Until she meets Jackson Hart. He introduces Adah to the guitar
and teaches her how to play it. She sees the possibility to reach her dream
with Jackson. But she can’t keep one foot in her Amish community and be with
Matthew, her Amish suitor, and also keep the other foot in her dream world. She
must choose and that choice will keep you reading until the end of the book.
Excellent characterization for the hero and heroine as well as secondary
characters. Kelly Irvin writes superb Amish stories.

The winner of last Thursday’s
blog post for a copy of Spirit Bridge by
James L. Rubart is Diane A. I’ll email you. Thanks all for commenting. Watch for
more book giveaways.